Quartz has a summary of Tesla Motors sales figures from the August edition of the California New Car Dealers Association newsletter, and the news is good for the upstart electric car company. In June 2013, Tesla sold more vehicles in California than ten big-name brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Porsche, and Volvo.

The Model S popularity continues to spike nationwide, but not everyone is excited about the vehicle—or about Tesla founder Elon Musk's insistence on selling Tesla cars directly to the public. Yahoo News recently ran a story discussing the legislative efforts underway in Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, and Virginia to prevent Tesla from dealing directly with customers and instead conform to antiquated franchise laws requiring them to only sell cars via independently owned car dealerships. A recent White House petition requesting Tesla be allowed to skip dealerships and sell to customers without a middleman easily passed the 100k signature threshold required for an administration response, which has not yet been issued.

Musk appears determined to stay the course and fight for what he feels is the correct way to sell his cars. "If we were to go through the traditional dealer path," he said, "the result would be a disaster."

Tesla must be doing something right; the sales numbers speak for themselves. They're producing a product that people clearly are interested in buying; they're also managing to move significant inventory even though their cars start at about $63,000 and rapidly increase in price with options.

Lee Hutchinson / Lee is the Senior Technology Editor at Ars and oversees gadget, automotive, IT, and culture content. He also knows stuff about enterprise storage, security, and manned space flight. Lee is based in Houston, TX.

They also announced that they're aiming for 40,000 cars next year and 100,000 in 2016. And they just opened sales in China, and they're making European deliveries.

And after all that, I still don't understand the hate that they get even though they're a 100% American company with a fantastic American-made product. The number of people who still seem to want them to fail is mind-boggling.

Also, anecdote: You can't buy them in Arizona either, but I see more of them in Phoenix and Scottsdale every day. People are obviously willing to go through the trouble of purchasing them out of state and having them shipped here.

They also announced that they're aiming for 40,000 cars next year and 100,000 in 2016. And they just opened sales in China, and they're making European deliveries.

And after all that, I still don't understand the hate that they get even though they're a 100% American company with a fantastic American-made product. The number of people who still seem to want them to fail is mind-boggling.

Also, anecdote: You can't buy them in Arizona either, but I see more of them in Phoenix and Scottsdale every day. People are obviously willing to go through the trouble of purchasing them out of state and having them shipped here.

Makes me think of Apple. The huge number of Americans that hate Apple just blows my mind.

Impressive! They're pretty popular in Washington State too. I typically see one or two on the road every day. I'm long past the "OMG, is that a Tesla?" stage of seeing one.

And I can't believe that anyone could introduce legislation to force them to conform to the standard franchise rules with a straight face. I recall one auto dealer lobbyist trying to claim that people enjoy buying cars through dealers, and that it would be anti-consumer to have them buy directly from the company. Yeah, when I think of buying a car from a dealer, my heart is always all atwitter over the excitement of having to haggle over the price and firmly say "no" to the half dozen worthless add-ons they want to sell me on.

And I can't believe that anyone could introduce legislation to force them to conform to the standard franchise rules with a straight face. I recall one auto dealer lobbyist trying to claim that people enjoy buying cars through dealers, and that it would be anti-consumer to have them buy directly from the company.

From the Yahoo News piece:

Quote:

“This happens all the time,” said Bill Wolters, the president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. “Someone wants an exception to the franchise laws. If we made an exception for everybody that showed up in the legislature, before long the integrity of the entire franchise system is in peril.”

This guy just used "franchise system" and "integrity" in the same sentence. I don't think he actually lives on planet earth.

This is very encouraging. Wonder what those clowns at Top Gear have to say about this now. Didn't they score this car rather poorly in their (long distance) test drive a few months ago? Tesla Motors seem to have totally pwned that review by coming up with a top notch performance on their Model S.

And I can't believe that anyone could introduce legislation to force them to conform to the standard franchise rules with a straight face. I recall one auto dealer lobbyist trying to claim that people enjoy buying cars through dealers, and that it would be anti-consumer to have them buy directly from the company.

From the Yahoo News piece:

Quote:

“This happens all the time,” said Bill Wolters, the president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. “Someone wants an exception to the franchise laws. If we made an exception for everybody that showed up in the legislature, before long the integrity of the entire franchise system is in peril.”

This guy just used "franchise system" and "integrity" in the same sentence. I don't think he actually lives on planet earth.

Sounds like the lobbyists paid Mr. Wolters a visit, with "good arguments."

And I can't believe that anyone could introduce legislation to force them to conform to the standard franchise rules with a straight face. I recall one auto dealer lobbyist trying to claim that people enjoy buying cars through dealers, and that it would be anti-consumer to have them buy directly from the company.

From the Yahoo News piece:

Quote:

“This happens all the time,” said Bill Wolters, the president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. “Someone wants an exception to the franchise laws. If we made an exception for everybody that showed up in the legislature, before long the integrity of the entire franchise system is in peril.”

This guy just used "franchise system" and "integrity" in the same sentence. I don't think he actually lives on planet earth.

Sounds like the lobbyists paid Mr. Wolters a visit, with "good arguments."

Mr. Wolters is the lobbyist (or the lobbyist's boss), seeing as he's the president of a dealers association.

I see Teslas everywhere around where I live. So many that I wonder if they are just marketing people driving them around and parking them so people can see them. Seems like a lot considering the cost/practicality.

Tesla actually made quite a point about having a $0.00 marketing budget. And they don't advertise as far as I'm aware; so far this whole thing is really just reviews and word of mouth.

really? I see several daily...and I'm still stuck on the "damn it...wish I had money to buy one" stage.

Oh, I totally want one (at a lower price). It's just not as big a head-turning thing to see one anymore. I actually see more of them than I do the model of my car (Honda CR-Z), which isn't surprising, as it outsells it.

Quote:

This guy just used "franchise system" and "integrity" in the same sentence. I don't think he actually lives on planet earth.

Yeah. But at least he seems to be aware that the only thing that actually keeps his system in place is the actual law preventing it from being replaced. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. "Look, if we let car companies sell directly to the customers, why would they even bother to go to the car dealers? And if all the car dealers go out of business because no one wants to shop there, why then that would.... wait, what was my point again?"

i've never been a car person, but tesla has made me want to own one of their cars quite badly (though on a non-profit salary i guess i'll have to wait for a long-forgotten uncle to die and bequeath me his estates).

Cool! Except that only two of these are going after remotely the same customers as Tesla.

I count at least five, possibly as many as seven if you add Buick and Land Rover (LR is undeniably a luxury brand, but I'll allow it as being questionable in this comparison because they don't have any sedans). What are you on about with two?

Recently, I was smoked (hummed?!) off the line by a Tesla Model S, and I thought to myself how cool it would be to have a totally silent, stealthy and safe car as my daily driver. Fast and Furious EV anyone?

If Tesla can leverage their increasing economies of scale and come out with the Audi A4 / Subaru WRX of EVs, combined with their bypassing the "let me take you into the back room to ream you complete the sale" ethos of the average car dealer, they will be on their way to becoming one of the "Big 4" car manufacturers in America.

Of course there are a couple of caveats to this dream:

If Elon decides to include an "egregious display of acceleration" monitor in every Tesla log that reduces available power after 6 strikes, that would compromise Tesla's value/fun proposition.

If Tesla sales exceed the government's EV rebate pool resulting in cancellation of the program, that would be a loss for competition in the EV arena before it fully gets off the ground

Recently, I was smoked (hummed?!) off the line by a Tesla Model S, and I thought to myself how cool it would be to have a totally silent, stealthy and safe car as my daily driver. Fast and Furious EV anyone?

If Tesla can leverage their increasing economies of scale and come out with the Audi A4 / Subaru WRX of EVs, combined with their bypassing the "let me take you into the back room to [s] ream you [/s] complete the sale" ethos of the average car dealer, they will be on their way to becoming one of the "Big 4" car manufacturers in America.

Of course there are a couple of caveats to this dream:

If Elon decides to include an "egregious display of acceleration" monitor in every Tesla log that reduces available power after 6 strikes, that would compromise Tesla's value/fun proposition.

If Tesla sales exceed the government's EV rebate pool resulting in cancellation of the program, that would be a loss for competition in the EV arena before it fully gets off the ground

have you ever driven a full EV? they are all like that, i blow off the line regularly in my little leaf. the only problem is up to 50 then its like a normal car accelerating.

EVs are just inherently more fun to drive, instant torque, lower center of gravity (battery in the floor) and a stiff chassis+ quick agile fun car

Quality independent shops are usually a much better bet for good service than dealerships. Plus, my guess is Tesla will make technical/repair info available for free and offer any specialized diagnostic/repair equipment at reasonable prices.

They seem to be selling fairly well here in Texas. I see 2 regularly enough to recognize them: one's black, with one of the "modernized" A&M logos on the back window; the other's white with a vanity plate. There may be more even; I don't have a lot of reason to go past the south end of town very often anymore.

My parents have seen at least one even in Abilene (which is essentially what you'd get if the Vatican and Chicago had a bastard; biblethumping and massive corruption).

(I don't care what you guys say, the black one made a terrible decision in cars. Terrible. That thing's gotta be 200 degrees in the afternoon...)

With so many sold you'd think I'd have seen one on the road here in the Phoenix valley. In the last six months I've seen two Ferrari's, a Lotus, a Lambo, an SLS, a Fisker (broken down on the side of the road) and even a Gumpert Apollo but I've not seen a single Tesla yet.

When battery technology improves to the point where you can drive an electric car for as long as any reasonable person would want to in one day (think road trip) and they get the charging setup sorted so that you can grab a hotel and charge your car overnight in the parking lot I think electric cars will take off in a big way. Until then they're pretty much relegated to being city cars. I know you can use the Tesla charging stations to drive longer distances but no sane person would.

Recently, I was smoked (hummed?!) off the line by a Tesla Model S, and I thought to myself how cool it would be to have a totally silent, stealthy and safe car as my daily driver. Fast and Furious EV anyone?

If Tesla can leverage their increasing economies of scale and come out with the Audi A4 / Subaru WRX of EVs, combined with their bypassing the "let me take you into the back room to [s] ream you [/s] complete the sale" ethos of the average car dealer, they will be on their way to becoming one of the "Big 4" car manufacturers in America.

Of course there are a couple of caveats to this dream:

If Elon decides to include an "egregious display of acceleration" monitor in every Tesla log that reduces available power after 6 strikes, that would compromise Tesla's value/fun proposition.

If Tesla sales exceed the government's EV rebate pool resulting in cancellation of the program, that would be a loss for competition in the EV arena before it fully gets off the ground

have you ever driven a full EV? they are all like that, i blow off the line regularly in my little leaf. the only problem is up to 50 then its like a normal car accelerating.

EVs are just inherently more fun to drive, instant torque, lower center of gravity (battery in the floor) and a stiff chassis+ quick agile fun car

Nope, I haven't had the pleasure yet, but would definitely purchase a Tesla "WRX" in the future if they become available in the $35-40K range.

Recently, I was smoked (hummed?!) off the line by a Tesla Model S, and I thought to myself how cool it would be to have a totally silent, stealthy and safe car as my daily driver. Fast and Furious EV anyone?

If Tesla can leverage their increasing economies of scale and come out with the Audi A4 / Subaru WRX of EVs, combined with their bypassing the "let me take you into the back room to [s] ream you [/s] complete the sale" ethos of the average car dealer, they will be on their way to becoming one of the "Big 4" car manufacturers in America.

Of course there are a couple of caveats to this dream:

If Elon decides to include an "egregious display of acceleration" monitor in every Tesla log that reduces available power after 6 strikes, that would compromise Tesla's value/fun proposition.

If Tesla sales exceed the government's EV rebate pool resulting in cancellation of the program, that would be a loss for competition in the EV arena before it fully gets off the ground

have you ever driven a full EV? they are all like that, i blow off the line regularly in my little leaf. the only problem is up to 50 then its like a normal car accelerating.

EVs are just inherently more fun to drive, instant torque, lower center of gravity (battery in the floor) and a stiff chassis+ quick agile fun car

Nope, I haven't had the pleasure yet, but would definitely purchase a Tesla "WRX" in the future if they become available in the $35-40K range.

go test drive the volt! its super fun, quick and has a gas generator, plus with the price drops you can get them sub 24k after rebate

With so many sold you'd think I'd have seen one on the road here in the Phoenix valley. In the last six months I've seen two Ferrari's, a Lotus, a Lambo, an SLS, a Fisker (broken down on the side of the road) and even a Gumpert Apollo but I've not seen a single Tesla yet.

Haven't seen the Gumpert yet, but Teslas are starting to appear with the rest of the super-lux cars in the valley. I commute along the North 101 and there are 2 or 3 that I see pretty regularly up here.